Caius
Caius is a lab-grown man who was originally under the employ of Gesenai Shirai as a bouncer at Club Elegance. He was injected with Jane's blood when Jane and Fuse raided the club, as he was the one guard that had made it around the back of the building as Jane and Fuse were escaping from the vent. He was told not to turn around, and not to tell anyone about what had happened, and left to go about his business. Caius was the fifth person to join Jane's group and also the seventh person to be injected with her blood, after Macland Row and the bartender in Elegance. He and Jane did not actually interact until the next day, when Caius was kidnapped by Macland Row and Knox and tied up in a warehouse. Caius changed his appearance early in Chapter 3, when, after being rescued from the warehouse, he shaved his head and stopped wearing suits. When asked why he shaved his head, he told Jane that Gesenai made all her bouncers keep the same haircut and dress the same to keep everything looking uniform, and since he didn't work for Gesenai any more, he wasn't keeping the "lame" haircut. Early Life As he is a lab-grown human, Caius does not have much of an early life. He was granted more knowledge of how "lab meat" works than Michelle was, however, and was told of his limited lifespan early on. Caius and the others in his line were originally made to be cage fighters and professional mixed martial artists. However, the first few out of his line proved to not be very good at this, and as such, their contracts were sold off to Gesenai Shirai on the cheap. According to Caius, she put guns in their hands and set them up as bouncers. None of them recieved any actual firearms training, however, as they were mostly meant as a show of force. Until Jane and Fuse raided Elegance, both Gesenai and Macland never thought anyone would be ballsy enough to actually try and raid their club. He admits that, at some point prior to his meeting Jane, he had done "some fucked up stuff for some fucked up people". Kidnapping After being injected with Jane's blood, Caius was kidnapped by Macland Row, presumably with the Elegance bartender that Jane also blooded in the raid. However, while the bartender was quickly dealt with, Caius was to be tortured with a truth serum. Jane interfered however, causing Caius to fake a fear of needles, panic, and pass out. Caius awoke again later, this time to find Red-Eyed Prophet wheezing in his face. Through him, Jane began to press for details about Prophet and those who had sent him to the warehouse, eventually learning of the Cult of Enyo and the scope of the cabal that had been trying desperately to eliminate her and her friends. He would eventually be rescued by Jane, Fuse, and Michelle, after the former two had eliminated the cultists hiding in the back of the warehouse and disabled the shield generator that was being used to trap them. Afterwards, he elected to remain with the group and help them however he was able, as he did not have anywhere else to go since all of his former allies had turned on him rather unceremoniously. Personality Caius is a man of action, and dislikes waiting around making plans and being analytical. He would rather do than plan. He is also a self-proclaimed "master of the tough guy act", and can sometimes be inscrutable. On the surface, he seems to be your standard muscle, but over the course of being around Jane and her group, a softer side has begun to emerge. He is very protective of Jane and his other new friends. He knew Dr. Finch for less than a day and was prepared to storm the castle, in a sense, when he was attacked and taken in by the feds. He also knew Jane for less than 48 hours and was quite prepared to physically fight Jury S to protect her, if necessary. He is blunt, and to the point, and doesn't see the point of sugar-coating anything. Despite this, he has been shown to be quite easy to get along with. He seems to have a low tolerance for other people's bullshit and is more than willing to call people out on theirs. He also seems to be a bit vengeful. A large part of why he wants to continue helping Jane and the others is not because of a desire to atone for his past, but instead because he wants to see the people treating the city and people in general as playthings pay for their misdeeds. Abilities The process that is used to create lab-grown humans has afforded Caius a great deal of skills. He is trained in close-quarters combat and mixed martial arts, and knows how to hold his own in a fight. He also has knowledge of business, both legitimate and sleazy, from a combination of his programming and his time working for the likes of Shirai and Row. He also knows how to negotiate a contract, present himself to an audience, and a variety of other things that were deemed to be necessary for what was supposed to be a life of cage fighting. He is not, however, very good with guns. He is able to drive a car. On the odder side of things, he has shown to be quite knowledgeable on seemingly random topics, such as government red tape processes and plumbing. No one quite knows why. Relationships Jane Doe Caius has grown quickly attached to Jane since she rescued him from the warehouse. He is very protective of her, though often in a much more subtle way than Michelle is. He stated rather pointedly to Jury S that he was absolutely prepared to protect Jane if Jury was planning any funny business. He also stopped her from going first into the bunker in case there were security measures, and dissuaded her from attempting to climb down a ladder while recovering from surgery, among other things. He has shown that he would not think twice about rushing into a dangerous situation if it meant Jane's safety. When he was dying after the raid at the irradiated magic mushroom producing power plant, he told Jane he would entrust her to make the final decision regarding his fate, indicating his absolute trust in her. Michelle Despite Michelle being initially suspicious of Caius and his intentions, the two have developed a rather easy friendship. They get along well and are comfortable enough with each other to have deep conversations and discuss the nature of their existence as lab-grown, genetically engineered humans. When sent on missions together, they have very little trouble getting along and accomplishing their goals. Caius often makes statements about their nature that bemuse and occasionally disturb Michelle, but she will often get back at him by ribbing him for things like his odd knowledge of plumbing. A particularly strong moment between them happened in the Mars bunker, when Michelle told Caius that they could do anything. It was a mind-blowing moment for Caius, who took some time to soak it in. As a side-note, their conversation on Mars also indicates that Caius respects Michelle's opinion quite a lot. When he was dying after the raid at the irradiated magic mushroom producing power plant, he told Jane and Dr. Finch that one of the things he admires about Michelle is how she faces death, and is willing to fight tooth and nail against it. Dr. Finch Caius seems rather fond of Dr. Finch, and was prepared to essentially go to war with Thale's associates and the feds after the doctor was taken into their custody. In their first meeting, he seems amused by Dr. Finch's massive intellect and general nature and was impressed enough to express it out loud. While taking furniture from Jane's home, there was a point he took on a statement made by Dr. Finch about the refrigerator as a challenge, leading to him promptly loading it onto the truck and perplexing Dr. Finch. Caius has also microwaved burritos and called them breakfast burritos, also perplexing Dr. Finch. Caius' questions or statements tend to be completely blunt (and sometimes outright personal), which at times startles (the slightly more tactful) Dr. Finch, but on the whole they get along amicably with mutual respect. Caius also thinks that the grey in Dr. Finch's hair looks distinguished. When he was dying after the raid at the irradiated magic mushroom producing power plant, Caius told Dr. Finch that he is the braver man between them, as he is able to accept death as a part of life, and expressed his admiration for Dr. Finch. It was revealed in the Library that Caius' reckless behavior following his near death experience was to impress Dr. Finch, whom he had developed feelings for. Dr. Finch has since revealed that these feelings are reciprocated, and the two now have a budding romantic relationship. According to Morgenstern, their status is "officially figuring stuff out". Fuse Caius has a good read on Fuse, and established firmly in a confrontation in the Mars bunker that he does not take any tough-guy-act-crap from Fuse. It was clear from the confrontation that Caius has been paying attention to how Fuse behaves (putting on a brave face over the pain of severe burns), and understands that while Fuse is doing his best to not worry anyone, he is also causing more problems in the long run. In so doing, he has simultaneously shown that he cares a great deal for Fuse, but also that he is not afraid to overstep his bounds and tell Fuse straight-up to cut the crap - rather like an older brother. Fuse has always been a little bemused by Caius (what with the thing about the gay gene, the cage fighter background and Caius' more expressive approach to things) and up until the outburst on Mars, hadn't had any moments of conflict with him. The outburst both shocked and infuriated him initially, but Fuse later on admitted that Caius was right. Fuse has been more relaxed in general since the incident, and is relaxed enough around Caius to smoke level with him during a trip down to the Lower Tiers together. Trivia * His eyes are blue. * According to Morgenstern, Caius enjoys metal music. * It was revealed early on that Caius, like apparently most (if not all) lab-grown humans, is gay. * He used to tease Knox about his scar along with the other Elegance guards by calling him "Slash" or "Edge" or "some other 'totally rad' name that sounds like it's trying to hard" to get a rise out of him. * Despite being around less than a year, he calls Jane, Fuse, and Michelle "kids" when they first meet, and refers to Jane as "kiddo" at least once. * Originally started calling Jane "Blondie" jokingly, but has apparently made a habit out of it like Fuse and Michelle. * Originally did not wear seat belts because he didn't like them. He has since learned his lesson. * Caius was the only main character who was one hundred percent unplanned. Morgenstern has stated that he did not think that readers would latch on to him and fight quite so hard to free him from the warehouse. ** This led to him being unsure how well Caius would fit in to the group dynamic, and he has expressed relief that Caius ended up being so well-liked. * His personality is somewhat intended to be a foil for Dr. Finch's, as Dr. Finch is more analytical and needs to know everything whereas Caius just wants to get things done. * He claims that he is not afraid of anything. So far, this has proven to be true. Category:Characters Category:Protagonists